Softalk Share Server lets users of Microsoft Outlook share personal and public folders without Exchange Server. Softalk Share Server works in a similar way to Exchange Server and so changes made in Outlook are immediately available to anyone who has appropriate access.
Softalk Share Server lets you share all types of data in Outlook, including calendars, contacts, tasks, email, journals and notes.
Configuration options
Softalk Share Server may be configured to allow sharing of both personal and public folders (in which case it completely replaces your existing PST or Exchange store) or it may be configured to share public folders only (in which case it sits side by side your existing store).
Click here for more information on configuration options.
When Softalk Share Server is configured to share both personal and public folders, you will notice very little difference from when you used Outlook with the Personal Folders default store. The notable diffence is that the top of the folder tree no longer states Personal Folders. Instead, the name of the Softalk Share Server computer is displayed along with the name of the logged in user.
Any items added to any of the folders are no longer kept in the PST file, but are instead stored in the Softalk Share Server database.
Sharing folders in Outlook
Any folders created in Outlook automatically become available in the administrator program. From within the administrator it is then possible to provide access to other users to that folder.
See the online demo of how to share folders in Softalk Share Server.
When a user is granted at least read access to another user's private folder, they will immediately see the folder appear under a folder called Shared Folders in the folder tree, as shown in the picture on the left:
Similarly, when a user is granted at least read access to a public folder, they will immediately see the folder appear under a folder called Public Folders in the folder tree.
 Viewing Shared Calendars
With Softalk Share Server you can use Outlook to view your colleagues calendars side by side.
In Calendar view, you simply select the calendars that you want to view from the My Calendars shortcut list.
The relevant calendars will then appear in the right hand window, allowing you to both view and change the associated appointments, provided you have been granted sufficient access.
Any changes made to any appointments in these calendars will be immediately visible by any other users viewing the relevant calendar.
Granting access to personal folders
Granting a user access to a folder is very straight forward.
It's simply a case of selecting the folder in the administrator and pressing the Administer Access... button.
The Access page, shown to the right, lets you choose which users may have access to the folder and what their access level is.
As soon as a user is given access to a folder that folder will immediately appear in their Outlook folder tree.
Public folders
Softalk Share Server lets you create public folders and grant different users different access levels, ranging from no access to full read/write/delete access. Organizations typically want a shared contacts folder so that contact information need be updated in just one place. Some organizations create public calendar folders to represent meeting room availability. Other organizations want a shared email inbox to be available to certain groups of staff.
Softalk Share Server makes all this possible.
Accessing email from your mobile device
Softalk Share Server provides an IMAP server, giving you full 'over-the-air' access to your mail folders from a mobile device.
See Accessing your email from a mobile device for more information.
 Accessing Outlook data from a web browser
Softalk Share Server is compatible with Softalk Organizer, which means it is possible to manage your Outlook calendar, contacts and email from either Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari. Changes made in the browser interface will show up straight away in Outlook. As well as managing your own information, you can access shared and public folders from within the browser interface.
To access Outlook data from a web browser, you must purchase either Softalk Organizer or Softalk Business Server. Softalk Business Server includes Softalk Share Server, Softalk Organizer and Softalk Mail Server.
Offline working
Softalk Share Server provides you with an offline feature, which lets you continue working in Outlook even when you are disconnected from the network. You can choose to access personal folders, shared folders and public folders while working offline.
Free/Busy server
Softalk Share Server also provides a free/busy server so that it is possible to view someone's availability when inviting them to meetings in Outlook.
Backup/Restore
Softalk Share Server provides a full and incremental backup mechanism, ensuring that your data is safe from corruption or accidental deletion.
Data may be restored from any backup point to a store, user or folder level. Softalk Share Server automatically backs up your data according to a schedule, unless you specify otherwise. By default, it performs a full backup once a week and incremental backups on a nightly basis.
Requirements
Unlike Exchange Server, Softalk Share Server does not need to run on a Windows Server operating system. Although it integrates well with the Active Directory, it does not rely on it and so may be installed on a Windows XP or Vista client computer. It is not tied to a particular database. In fact Softalk Share Server will work with either Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Express,
Microsoft SQL Server or mySQL. By default, it uses SQL Express, which should accomodate up to 50 users, depending upon storage requirements. Beyond 50-users, we recommend using a database whose capacity is not artificially limited, such as Microsoft SQL Server or mySQL.
For a complete explanation of Softalk Share Server and all of its features, access the online user guide.
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